Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic

In Empire of Liberty, one of America's most esteemed historians, Gordon S. Wood, offers a brilliant account of the early American Republic, ranging from 1789 and the beginning of the national government to the end of the War of 1812. As Wood reveals, the period was marked by tumultuous change in all aspects of American life - in politics, society, economy, and culture.

What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815 - 1848

In this addition to the esteemed Oxford History of the United States series, historian Daniel Walker Howe illuminates the period from the Battle of New Orleans to the end of the Mexican-American War, an era of revolutionary improvements in transportation and communications that accelerated America's expansion and prompted the rise of mass political parties.

Battle Cry of Freedom: Volume 2

James M. McPherson, professor emeritus of U.S. history at Princeton, is one of the foremost scholars of the Civil War. In this informative and meticulously researched masterpiece, he clarifies the differing ways of life and philosophy that led to this shattering conflict. Abraham Lincoln wondered whether "in a free government the minority have the right to break up the government". And Jefferson Davis felt "forced to take up arms" to guarantee states' rights.

Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945

Between 1929 and 1945, two great travails were visited upon the American people: the Great Depression and World War II. This Pulitzer Prize–winning history tells the story of how Americans endured, and eventually prevailed, in the face of those unprecedented calamities. The Depression was both a disaster and an opportunity. As David Kennedy vividly demonstrates, the economic crisis of the 1930s was far more than a simple reaction to the alleged excesses of the 1920s.

Battle Cry of Freedom: Volume 1

James M. McPherson, professor emeritus of U.S. history at Princeton, is one of the foremost scholars of the Civil War. In this informative and meticulously researched masterpiece, he clarifies the differing ways of life and philosophy that led to this shattering conflict. Abraham Lincoln wondered whether "in a free government the minority have the right to break up the government". And Jefferson Davis felt "forced to take up arms" to guarantee states' rights.

From Colony to Superpower: US Foreign Relations Since 1776

This prize-winning and critically acclaimed history uses foreign relations as the lens through which to tell the story of America's dramatic rise from 13 disparate colonies huddled along the Atlantic coast to the world's greatest superpower.

Grand Expectations: The United States 1945-1974

Grand Expectations, the 10th volume of the peerless Oxford History of the United States, weaves the major political, cultural, and economic events of the period into a superb portrait of America from 1945 through Watergate.

Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush v. Gore

Restless Giant provides a crisp, concise assessment of the 27 years between the resignation of Richard Nixon and the election of George W. Bush, in a sweeping narrative that seamlessly weaves together social, cultural, political, economic, and international developments.

Gorbachev: His Life and Times

When Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985, the USSR was one of the world's two superpowers. By 1989, his liberal policies of perestroika and glasnost had permanently transformed Soviet Communism and had made enemies of radicals on the right and left. By 1990 he, more than anyone else, had ended the Cold War, and in 1991, after barely escaping from a coup attempt, he unintentionally presided over the collapse of the Soviet Union he had tried to save.

American Colonies: The Settling of North America: Penguin History of the United States, Book 1

In the first volume in the Penguin History of the United States series, edited by Eric Foner, Alan Taylor challenges the traditional story of colonial history by examining the many cultures that helped make America, from the native inhabitants from millennia past through the decades of Western colonization and conquest and across the entire continent, all the way to the Pacific coast.

The Impending Crisis: America Before the Civil War: 1848-1861

David M. Potter's Pulitzer Prize-winning The Impending Crisis is the definitive history of antebellum America. Potter's sweeping epic masterfully charts the chaotic forces that climaxed with the outbreak of the Civil War: westward expansion, the divisive issue of slavery, the Dred Scott decision, John Brown's uprising, the ascension of Abraham Lincoln, and the drama of Southern secession.

American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804

The American Revolution is often portrayed as a high-minded, orderly event whose capstone, the Constitution, provided the ideal framework for a democratic, prosperous nation. Alan Taylor, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, gives us a different creation story in this magisterial history of the nation's founding. Rising out of the continental rivalries of European empires and their native allies, Taylor's Revolution builds like a ground fire overspreading Britain's mainland colonies, fueled by local conditions, destructive, hard to quell.

1776

Why we think it’s a great listen: If you ever thought history was boring, David McCullough’s performance of his fascinating book will change your mind. In this stirring audiobook, McCullough tells the intensely human story of those who marched with General George Washington in the year of the Declaration of Independence, when the whole American cause was riding on their success.

American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900

The three decades after the Civil War saw a wholesale shift in American life, and the cause was capitalism. Driven by J. P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and oth­ers like them, armies of men and women were harnessed to a new vision of massive industry. A society rooted in the soil became one based in cities, and legions of immigrants were drawn to American shores. Brands portrays the stunning trans­formation of the landscape and institutions of American life in these years.

The Radicalism of the American Revolution

Grand in scope, rigorous in its arguments, and elegantly synthesizing 30 years of scholarship, Gordon S. Wood's Pulitzer Prize–winning book analyzes the social, political, and economic consequences of 1776. In The Radicalism of the American Revolution, Wood depicts not just a break with England, but the rejection of an entire way of life: of a society with feudal dependencies, a politics of patronage, and a world view in which people were divided between the nobility and "the Herd."

Almost a Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence

In this gripping chronicle of America's struggle for independence, award-winning historian John Ferling transports listeners to the grim realities of that war, capturing an eight-year conflict filled with heroism, suffering, cowardice, betrayal, and fierce dedication. As Ferling demonstrates, it was a war that America came much closer to losing than is now usually remembered. General George Washington put it best when he said that the American victory was "little short of a standing miracle."

Paul Revere's Ride

Paul Revere's midnight ride looms as an almost mythical event in American history - yet it has been largely ignored by scholars and left to patriotic writers and debunkers. In Paul Revere's Ride, David Hackett Fischer fashions an exciting narrative that offers deep insight into the outbreak of revolution and the emergence of the American republic. Beginning in the years before the eruption of war, Fischer illuminates the figure of Paul Revere.

American Heritage History of the American Revolution

Bruce Lancaster starts his story with an examination of colonial society and the origins of the quarrel with England. He details the ensuing battles and military campaigns from Lexington and Concord to the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, as well as the tense political and social situation of the new nation. The American Heritage History of the American Revolution details the birth of America with insight and depth.

The Glorious Cause

This dramatic sequel to Jeff Shaara's best selling Rise to Rebellion continues his chronicle of the key characters of the American Revolution and animates some of the most compelling scenes in America's history: Washington's harrowing winter at Valley Forge, Benedict Arnold's tragic downfall, and the fiercely-fought battles at Trenton, Brandywine Creek, and Yorktown.

Washington: A Life

In Washington: A Life celebrated biographer Ron Chernow provides a richly nuanced portrait of the father of our nation. This crisply paced narrative carries the reader through his troubled boyhood, his precocious feats in the French and Indian War, his creation of Mount Vernon, his heroic exploits with the Continental Army, his presiding over the Constitutional Convention, and his magnificent performance as America's first president.

The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt

In this landmark work, one of the world's most renowned Egyptologists tells the epic story of this great civilization, from its birth as the first nation-state to its final absorption into the Roman Empire - 3,000 years of wild drama, bold spectacle, and unforgettable characters. Award-winning scholar Toby Wilkinson captures not only the lavish pomp and artistic grandeur of this land of pyramids and pharaohs but for the first time reveals the constant propaganda and repression that were its foundations.

The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume I, Fort Sumter to Perryville

The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume I begins one of the most remarkable works of history ever fashioned. All the great battles are here, of course, from Bull Run through Shiloh, the Seven Days Battles, and Antietam, but so are the smaller ones: Ball's Bluff, Fort Donelson, Pea Ridge, Island Ten, New Orleans, and Monitor versus Merrimac.

The American Civil War

Between 1861 and 1865, the clash of the greatest armies the Western hemisphere had ever seen turned small towns, little-known streams, and obscure meadows in the American countryside into names we will always remember. In those great battles, those streams ran red with blood-and the United States was truly born.

John Adams

McCullough's John Adams has the sweep and vitality of a great novel. This is history on a grand scale, an audiobook about politics, war, and social issues, but also about human nature, love, religious faith, virtue, ambition, friendship, and betrayal, and the far-reaching consequences of noble ideas. Above all, it is an enthralling, often surprising story of one of the most important and fascinating Americans who ever lived.

Publisher's Summary

The first book to appear in the illustrious Oxford History of the United States, this critically-acclaimed volume - a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize - offers an unsurpassed history of the Revolutionary War and the birth of the American republic.

This panoramic view of the conflict between England and America combines the political and the personal, giving the listener a vivid sense of how the colonists perceived the events of their struggle for independence, from the French and Indian War to “the shot heard round the world”, and the importance the colonists assigned to them.

Praised as “state of the art” and “the most distinguished series in American historical scholarship”, the four new volumes of the Oxford History of the United States – including The Glorious Cause – are narrated with engagingly casual warmth by Robert Fass, who previously read an earlier volume in the series, Empire of Liberty, by Gordon S. Wood.

Please note: The individual volumes of the series have not been published in historical order. The Glorious Cause is number III in The Oxford History of the United States.

Another excellent entry in the Oxford History of the United States. I didn't personally find it quite as engrossing as "Empire of Liberty" or "What Hath God Wrought," but still extremely interesting and informative. This book goes to some lengths to explain and document just how radical much of America was before the revolution (which flies in the face of some of my collegiate history instructors, who pitched the revolution as more of a minority driven phenomenon). Likewise, it at times adopts almost a fait accompli tone to the revolution's eventual success - though it is quite careful to point out at numberous points where the British blew it politically and militarily in attempts to contain and/or end the conflict on their terms. Middlekauff seems to hint that Britain lacked the political will to deploy the tremendous resources necessary to subdue the continent. There seems to be great truth in the argument, if accepting the aformentioned largely radicalized American populace as mentioned above. Based on my own larger reading, I still can't help thinking what an EXCEEDINGLY precarious enterprise the American Revolution was, prone to being snuffed out for any number of reasons throughout the long struggle. The Americans (and Britons) who ensured that it didn't are well detailed in many sidebars throughout.

The other interesting thing I continue to see again and again as I read more of the history of the United States is to see how so many of our current dilemmas, arguments, problems, etc were baked right into the United States from its earliest days - indeed, some even before the very founding of the republic. Likewise, it is amusing (if disappointing) to see some of the titans in the American pantheon wrestling luridly in the political mud with their opponents - right up to and incuding vitriolic personal attacks, doctrinaire thinking, and hyperbolic rhetoric. Everything old is indeed new again.

Strongly recommended for those interested in U.S. history and politics.

I have read a lot of histories of the Revolutionary War, events leading up to it as well as separate histories of the constitutional convention. This is an extremely thorough presentation with a lot of emphasis placed on detailed presentation of battles. If you are especially interested in the military aspects of the war, you will particularly enjoy this ... and if that is true, you also may want to read this in print because there are maps and other support material that will make this aspect of the war more comprehensible.

It is well written and much more neutral in tone than most history I've read. When the author does make his opinion known, it is striking because it is very restrained most of the time.

I did enjoy it. It's dry, but it's also well written and read at a brisk pace. I have to admit to not liking the narrator. He's good, he's professional ... it's his voice I don't like. It just grated on my ears after a while ... and this is a very long book, so a little annoyance lasts a long time.

If this is an area of history that is of particular interest to you, this is a good book to add to your reading list. However, it is a very focused book and if you aren't really serious about this era of history ... well ... it's 50-50 whether or not you'll have the patience to listen to such a very long and detailed history of this period. Yotu have to bring your own interest to the book or it is likely to be dull.

A fine audiobook for those with a serious interest in this part of history. Maybe not so interesting if your interest in the material is more tangential.

Recently I've been more and more interested in American history. TV documentaries on everything from the American Revolution, the wild west, Civil War, Great Depression, etc..., have been fascinating me. When I went in search of an audio book for the Civil War, this title caught my eye. I started reading up on the book and wisely decided to start at the "beginning". Beginning in quotes because the American history started long before 1763. But this point in time can probably be considered the beginning of the United States. And I'm glad I did.

The book title states it covers the time period of 1763 - 1789, and for the most part it does. There are times when pre 1763 details are given to support an idea the author is explaining, but the majority of the book falls between these years. The events leading up to Lexington / Concord were explored in more detail than I've ever heard. The points of view are not only told from the American side, but from the British as well. From what I can tell, the author tried to do a fair job in telling both sides of the story. In the end of course, the Revolution is justified, as history has seen. Many of the battles are told in great detail, which took me be surprise. The only thing I found lacking were some details of events towards the end of the war and leading to the ratification of the Constitution. Washington being elected to the Presidency is briefly mentioned, but how this came to be wasn't clearly defined is just one example.

Since the ride to and from work is how I listen to my audio books, there are times when certain items are missed unfortunately. This can be quite detrimental to an audio book of this kind due to the sheer number of names, places, dates, documents, etc... that are mentioned within. I believe to fully absorb the content of this book, it would have to be read. Well, by myself anyway, since reading a page helps me retain details; and this book is all about the details.

A tremendous effort to cover the formation of the American Republic. At 27 hours it is a very long book to listen to, but I found time flew by as I did. It is a compelling story of the factors and figures that shaped America's independence.

My only major complaint is that at times the narrative is uneven. Some battles are covered in detail, others are skimmed by. I was looking forward to learning more about the Articles of Confederation but found that the book basically jumped from the War itself to the creation and adoption of the Constitution.

A fantastic look at the American Revolution. This is the ONE book to read if you are fresh off the boat and looking for early American History. It is Vol 3. of the eventual 12 volume Oxford History of the United States (although it was first to be published). Middlekauff is balanced in his approach. He isn't looking to reinvent, revise, or revoke history. But you can't just call what he does a summary. His narrative captures the brilliance of, and the almost accidental start of, the American Republic.

Anyway, it was a great book. And even if you aren't fresh of the boat, it is a great review of the Revolutionary War and Continental Congress. It is definitely worth your time, your dollar, and your attention.

A very well written detailed history of the American Revolution. The author does a great job of sketching out the people who played a part and what part was played. He also does a great job of keeping the text unbiased when presenting the facts allowing for a clear understanding of both sides of the conflict.

"The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution: 1763-1789" by Robert Middlekauff, read by Robert Fass is a very good audiobook. Fass narrates the book clearly.

The book covers the lead up the the revolution and why the Americans decided reluctantly to fight. It then covers the war itself and what the Americans did after the war to set up the federal government. This is all done competently and clearly.

The book doesn't cover the controversies in Britain over America in as much detail and in particular doesn't cover the important role played by Edmund Burke: see "The Great Melody" by Conor Cruise O'Brien, but that is to be expected in a book about America.

Very good. Well worth listening to.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Marcus

London, United Kingdom

3/20/11

Overall

"Diapponited"

I,m a big fan of history and I was looking forward to this book, as it has good reviews. I had studied this period when at school but I didn't know it in great detail. However I couldn't get into it particular the politic. Whole passages went by and I couldn't remember what had been said, and nore did I feel the urge to rewind. Not sure why I didn't like it. There was some good analysis, and the scholarship seemed up to date, but the writing and the narration made it feel old fashioned. There are other volumes in the same series that I am interested so I hope they are better.

0 of 2 people found this review helpful

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